Glimpses of Sara

My mom and I when we visited the butterfly museum last summer.

Me and my poison ivy–not thrilled with each other even a week after it appeared.

(When you’re not great at shooting selfies while driving, transform them into sketches…. ) While I did ask my son how I looked before I left for my first day on the job, I didn’t think about shooting a photo — until I reached my first STOP sign. I look more happy than anxious. :)

My friend Robena and I took a selfie prior to embarking on the Dash for Diabetes 5K Saturday morning.

A selfie of my mother and I on my last visit.

Stars upon thar driver licenses…

Me, this morning, with the trusty float destined to save me from all the denizens of the deep — and the shallows.

Loving being with my husband

The fun before the storm… Little Orange Riding Hood and her sister Trish with unruly, not overly photogenic or cooperative football fans in the background. Did these people not feel the raindrops splashing around us? This was the weekend before the Nightmare with Coughin’ began…

Temporarily pouting, but permanently enlightened!

Daughter-in-love and mother-in-love. :)

Stainless steel frames with progressive, no-line bifocal lenses that are photochromatic and have a premium oleophobic anti-reflective coating for a mere $136.26 shipped to my mailbox in two weeks or less. Zenni, you should hire me to advertise for you.)

My son after his final performance in “Beauty and the Beast.” He played both a beast and a prince perfectly… just like in real life. :)

So it poured rain the day of commencement, which meant it was a bad hair day. But it was a great day with my new, old friends anyway!

Adam and I a mere six years ago…

That would be me…. and, yes, I am smiling behind the mask.

Actually, I was holding the pitchfork, and I wasn’t smiling…

Spontaneous selifes by way of illustration: The two on the left were done with modern technology, me looking at what would be the mirror image WYWIWYG. The right one, quasi modern, digital smartphone camera but holding it as I would a traditional camera.

Shear terror? One way to kill a frog

It was what I like to call a “froggy” morning. The air was heavy and warm (66 degrees) for a pre-dawn winter day in Florida. The forecast called for fog, and before I even left my driveway, I was aware that visibility was limited.

My car was covered with moisture — not rain, which we desperately need, but condensation, a result of the humidity in the air. And leaves. Dollops of large, brown, sycamore leaves.

I closed my belongings in the trunk and myself in the car. I started the engine and immediately turned on the windshield wiper to clear the window just before I pressed on the gas pedal.

Plop.

A “leaf” cleared from the window hit the roof above my head and stuck — or so it seemed. I drove down the street, heard another plop, and had the eerie feeling that something alive was clinging to my car.

Human? Surely not. Animal?

I switched on my high beams to ensure I’d see my neighbor who too often walks, nearly invisibly, down the middle of the road, despite the darkness of the hour. Though my eyes peered intently at the road before me, my ears were solely bent on locating and identifying the creature clinging to my car.

Plop.

The sound drew my attention to the driver side window.

An enormous tree frog — roughly the size of my palm — clung to the window, staring at me.

Through the glass — or I might have crashed the car.

A tree frog, large, jumpy, and downright scary, clinging to my wall on another “froggy” morning.

Instead, I drove as fast as the designated 25 mph sign would allow (so 30 mph), hoping the wind would shear the frog from my window. He leaped a little higher on the window but didn’t go flying.

I got onto the main highway, where the speed limit was 45 mph, and I gunned it, reaching 50 mph for the scant half mile before the speed reduced to 35 mph near the shopping centers and restaurants.

It was enough. Enough to have at least lost sight of the blasted frog, but every splat I heard was on my car, not under it, and I had the eerie sensation that the frog was still with me.

When I reached the health club, I cautiously opened my door, expecting… what? A slimy, vengeful frog on the attack?

Yes. Actually.

I made it safely into the health club no worse for frog terror. I was still on guard when I returned to my car after my workout.

Later, I searched online to determine the frog’s identity, because this was no traditional Florida tree frog, of that I was certain. It appeared to be a Cuban tree frog — a prolific, invasive species that kills native frogs and usurps their territory and, therefore, should be killed “humanely.”

Such as shearing it from your car window at 50 mph?

I’d like to think that I was just doing my part for the environment in this frog eat frog world.

But I can’t know for sure if my “shear terror” did the job to euthanize the frog or not.

For all I know, he could still be out there. Ready and waiting.

In the photos: I obviously did not shoot a photo of the frog on my car, but I did manage to capture some shots of a similar frog on the wall of my house before it flung itself too close for my comfort. This frog I did not shear off my wall or otherwise cause its demise, but, apparently, I should have.

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Sara

I have a desire to write something that will change the world. This blog is one little step out of my currently overfilled life of working, parenting, being a wife, housekeeper, laundress, hostess, cheerleader, beader, reader, and leader... When I write, I feel a bit more sane, even if said writing exposes my insanity. Go figure.
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2 thoughts on “Shear terror? One way to kill a frog”

OMGâI love this blog topic! Iâve never seen anything like that frog on MY property, but if I do, Iâll know how to deal with it. By the way, is said Cuban frog toxic to touch? Iâd like to know before I capture one to attach it to my car for a ride down the highway. J

Hysterical, Connie! I’ve read that the frog does release some sort of slime to make it slippery… and that the best way to catch and kill them is to place a hollow PVC pipe near where you think they live. They’ll crawl inside and fall asleep, which gives you the chance to catch them. Then you’re supposed to put some sort of lidocaine or numbing thing on their back and place them in the freezer where they will die. Can’t see myself doing any of those steps…. but I guess you could try to catch one and force it onto your car.